The second season of the

television comedy Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first Television in the United ...

series ''

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second season was released on DVD in region 1 on October 11, 2005, in region 2 on January 23, 2006 and in region 4 on March 15, 2006. The show's storyline centers on the Bluth family, a formerly wealthy, habitually dysfunctional family and is presented in a continuous format, incorporating hand-held camera work, narration, archival photos and historical footage.

Cast

Jason Bateman Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor, director and producer known for his roles of Michael Bluth in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix sitcom ''Arrested Development (TV series), Arrested Development'' and of Mart ...

Michael Bluth Nichael "Michael" Bluth is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development'', created by Mitchell Hurwitz, and portrayed by Jason Bateman. Michael serves as the series straight man, and leads his ...

Portia de Rossi Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; 31 January 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi, is an Australian-American former actress. She played Nelle Porter on the American drama series '' Ally McBeal'' (1998–2002), for wh ...

as Lindsay Fünke *

Will Arnett William Emerson Arnett (; born May 4, 1970) is a Canadian actor, comedian and producer. He is best known for his roles as Gob Bluth in the Fox/Netflix series ''Arrested Development'' (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019) and as the titular charact ...

as Gob Bluth *

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series), The Berenstain ...

as George Michael Bluth *

Alia Shawkat Alia Martine Shawkat ( ; ar, عليا مارتين شوكت; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in '' The Old Man'', '' State of Grace'', Maeby Fünke in the Fox/Netflix television sitcom ''Arrested Develop ...

as Maeby Fünke *

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his role in the Fox comedy series ''Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth. Hale played Gary Walsh on the HBO comedy ''Veep'' from 2012 until its ...

as Buster Bluth *

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom ...

as Tobias Fünke *

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank Kings ...

as George and Oscar Bluth *

Jessica Walter Jessica Walter (January 31, 1941 – March 24, 2021) was an American actress who appeared in over 170 film, stage and television productions. In film, she was best known for her role as a psychotic and obsessed fan of a local disc jockey in t ...

as Lucille Bluth *

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

as Narrator (uncredited)

Episodes

Reception

Critical reception

In its second season, ''Arrested Development'' was met with widespread critical acclaim. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the season has an approval rating of 94% with an average score of 8.3 out of 10 based on 18 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Arrested Development''s second season doubles down on the absurd antics and densely layered gags, cementing the Bluths as TV's best worst family." On the review aggregator website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the second season scored 88 out of 100, based on 17 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim."

Awards and nominations

In 2005, the second season received eleven

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nominations in seven categories with one win. It was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (

), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (

), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (

), Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Barbie Adler for "Sad Sack" and

Brad Copeland Brad Copeland is an American television writer, producer and film director, best known for his work on the Fox TV series ''Arrested Development''. Television career He has written for the television programs ''Arrested Development'', ''My Name ...

for "Sword of Destiny"); Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series; Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series (three nominations). The episode "

Righteous Brothers The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Los ...

", written by

Mitchell Hurwitz Mitchell Donald "Mitch" Hurwitz (born May 29, 1963) is an American television writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the television sitcom ''Arrested Development'' as well as the co-creator of ''The Ellen Show''. He is a ...

and

Jim Vallely James Vallely (born August 30, 1954) is an American television producer, and screenwriter. He was a writer and consulting producerDunphy, John"E.B. native wins Emmy for best comedy writing" ''East Brunswick Sentinel'', September 29, 2005. Acce ...

won for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. The second season also received two

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

nominations in two categories with one win. It was nominated for Best Series Musical or Comedy, and Jason Bateman won for Best Performance in a Musical or Comedy.

Home media

The second season was released on DVD in region 1 on October 11, 2005, in region 2 on January 23, 2006 and in region 4 on March 15, 2006. Special features include commentary by creator Mitchell Hurwitz and cast members on "Good Grief", "Ready, Aim, Marry Me!" and "

"; deleted and extended scenes; Season One in 3 Minutes overview; blooper reel; "The Immaculate Election" Campaign Videos.

References

External links

* {{TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy 2004 American television seasons 2005 American television seasons